Like a race car, this year’s Nuggets appeared to be built to win, loaded with firepower, top-of-the-line parts and blistering speed.

Turns out they got a lemon.In the most important game of the season, down 2-0 to the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, the Nuggets played as though they had already made vacation plans.

Los Angeles ran away from the Nuggets at the Pepsi Center, 102-84, while Denver’s all-stars, Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson, shot a combined 10-for-38 from the field and left the court furious at the team’s meltdown.

“We quit,” Anthony said. “Everybody, from the coaches to the players. And I said it. And I’m not pointing the fingers at anybody, because we all sucked. I didn’t play worth a damn tonight.”

Upon hearing of Melo’s comments, Denver coach George Karl responded by saying: “I don’t think I quit. . . . I think Melo is emotional right now, he’s frustrated right now, as we all are now.”

Adding to the anger of the loss, Iverson said he was personally insulted and “shocked” that Karl played him just one minute in the fourth quarter. Karl said he was giving Iverson a breather at the start of the period, then tried to mix things up, and by that point the game was out of hand.

Nevertheless, there was no good answer for “The Answer.”

“I’ve been in a lot of playoff series,” Iverson said, “and I don’t think I’ve ever been this frustrated.”

Denver is 0-6 against the Lakers this season. No team has ever rallied down 3-0 in a playoff series.

Anthony made perhaps the most telling analysis of the Nuggets when he was asked if the Lakers were better than Denver: “Team-wise, yeah, they’re better than us. Talent-wise, pound for pound, I don’t think they’re better than us.”

Talent makes all-star rosters; teams win rings.

The Nuggets played arguably their worst quarter of the season, the third, at the absolute worst time.

Down seven at halftime, Denver was held to 18 points in the third quarter, after which Los Angeles led 83-64. With missed shots, poor defense, sloppy play and bad decision-making, the Nuggets fell apart.

“You could just see it out there in the third quarter,” Anthony said. “We just gave up.”

And to think, the day began with such high hopes. Sure, Denver had lost the first two games by double digits. But the Nuggets had played great at home, 33-8 this season. And the fans flocked to fill the Pepsi Center, most wearing power-blue headbands, trying to lift the home team.

Fans finally gave up at a timeout with 5:29 left in the game, heading toward the exits, the Lakers in control.

The Nuggets, meanwhile, couldn’t make a shot. What’s worse, they were getting good looks.

Many times when Denver needs instant scoring, it looks to J.R. Smith. But the 3-point threat made only two, missed six, and often just flung up a shot without letting the offense flow.

Denver shot an abysmal 37.2 percent, and its 84 points were the fewest the Nuggets scored since Jan. 3. Though some credit should go to the Lakers’ defense — “better than I thought they were,” Karl said of his impression now compared to before the series — the Nuggets did not show the focus necessary to win a huge playoff game.

“I don’t think we played as hard as they did or competed with them,” said Anthony, who had the dubious distinction of scoring a team-high 16 points. “These last three games, we haven’t just been losing, we’ve been getting the (expletive) beat out of us.”

If Denver loses the series — Game 4 is Monday at the Pepsi Center — it will be Denver’s fifth consecutive first-round exit, all with Anthony on the roster.

In the locker room after the game, a Nuggets staffer had the short-straw task of passing out box scores to the Nuggets. When he held out a sheet to Kenyon Martin, the forward could only smile.

KOBE WATCH

Kobe Bryant didn’t have to be the star in Game 3 for the Lakers to win big. He still led the team with 22 points, but four other Lakers scored in double figures. A look:

First quarter:

On the Lakers’ first seven baskets, Bryant had five assists and scored once. He went to the bench with just more than a minute left in the quarter with his second foul. Guarded by Kenyon Martin, Bryant finished with four points on 1-for-5 shooting. He had six assists and four rebounds.

Second quarter:

Checked in with 7:40 left and hit two consecutive shots. Also had a dunk, but had a shot blocked by Eduardo Najera, who took a turn at trying to stop the all-star while Martin rested. Bryant finished 2-for-3 with no assists and one rebound.

Third quarter:

Bryant came out on fire, scoring nine of the Lakers’ first 11 points in the first four minutes to accelerate the blowout. The Nuggets assigned J.R. Smith to Bryant, who finished with 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting with two assists.

Fourth quarter:

With the Lakers owning a 19-point lead going into the final quarter, Bryant played about seven minutes. He made one shot, a 3-pointer.

KEY MOMENT

Second-half tip?

There really wasn’t one key moment, but with 1:53 left in the third quarter the Lakers’ Derek Fisher sank a 3-pointer, giving L.A. an 81-64 lead and sending the crowd home early.

KEY STAT

10-for-38.

That’s what Denver all-stars Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony combined for from the field. Together, they finished with 31 points, the expected point total for one of them on a big night.

Benjamin Hochman was a sports columnist for The Denver Post until August 2015 before leaving for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his hometown newspaper. Hochman previously worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for its Hurricane Katrina coverage. Hochman wrote the Katrina-themed book “Fourth and New Orleans,” published in 2007.

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